Science Competency Assurance Documents

Primary Grade Two: Physical Science

Standard 1: The student understands that objects and materials have observable properties that may be used to describe and classify them. They also observe and investigate phenomena such as heat, electricity, and sound and realize they are produced and transferred in various ways.

• Academic Expectation 2.1: Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real-life problems.

• Academic Expectation 2.2: Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.

• Academic Expectation 2.3: Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.

Core Content

Demonstrators

Observable, Measurable, Properties of Objects

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Objects have many observable properties such as size, mass, shape, color, temperature, magnetism, and the ability to react with other substances. Some properties can be measured using tools such as metric rulers, balances, and thermometers.

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Classify objects according to two properties.

Classify objects according to their functions.

Measure objects using metric rulers, balances, and thermometers.

Separating and Classifying by Properties

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Objects are made of one or more materials such as paper, wood, and metal. Objects can be described by the properties of the materials from which they are made. Those properties can be used to separate or classify objects or materials.

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Determine which of a given set of objects will sink or float in water.

Identify objects that sink or float.

Describe property changes in an object that will alter its ability to float.

Predict the loads a boat could carry.

 

States of Matter

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Materials can exist in different states-solid, liquid, and gas. Heating or cooling can change some common materials, such as water, from one state to another.

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Observe and describe properties of solids and liquids.

Observe and describe the behavior of solid materials when mixed with water.

Recognize the differences between solids and liquids.

Measure and combine solids and liquids to make mixtures and solutions.

Heat

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Heat can be produced in many ways and can move from one object to another by conduction. Some materials conduct heat much better than others. Good insulators can reduce heat loss.

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Place balls of warm wax along a piece of coat hanger. Put one end of the wire in a candle flame. Use the terms direct and indirect evidence to infer the direction the heat moves.

Investigate and discuss temperature differences in plastic, wood and metal objects (i.e. spoons) placed in a container of hot water.

Classify materials as conductors or insulators.

Bend a paper clip back and forth several times. Place it gently against your cheek. Infer how heat was produced.

Electricity

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Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects. Electrical circuits require a complete conducting path through which an electrical current can pass.

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Construct a bulb, battery, and wire system to show the energy path through an electric circuit.

Distinguish between an open and closed circuit.

Investigate a variety of materials that open and close a circuit. Find out if these are also magnetic.

Magnetism

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Magnets attract and repel each other, and magnets attract certain kinds of other materials (e.g., iron).

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Observe and describe the interaction of magnets with different types of metals.

Use magnets to explore interaction at a distance. Classify whether magnetic interaction has occurred by touching or at a distance.

Classify objects by their magnetic property. Describe the evidence of interaction.

Observe and describe the interaction between two magnets, using the terms attract and repel.

Compare the strength of different magnets by calculating the number of paper clips it picks up.

Investigate how a magnet interacts with a compass needle.

Map the magnetic field using a compass or by sprinkling iron filings on a paper which has a bar magnet under it.

Science Process Vocabulary: classify, collect data, communicate, infer, measure, observe, organize data, predict

Science Content Vocabulary: attract, battery, bulb, circuit, closed circuit, compass, conduction, conductor, direct evidence, energy, energy source, electricity, energy transfer, float, function, gas, heat, indirect evidence, insulation, insulator, liquid, magnet, material, matter, metal, object, open circuit, property, repel, separate, sink, solid, states of matter, wire

Primary Grade Two: Earth Science

Standard 2: The student understands that the earth materials are solid rocks, soils, water, and gases in the atmosphere (air) and that these materials have observable properties and characteristics that can be described and measured. Weather conditions on the Earth, and particularly in our area, change from day to day and weather patterns change over seasons. The sun and the moon, as well as their basic positions and motions, can be observed and described relative to the Earth.

• Academic Expectation 2.1: Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real-life problems.
• Academic Expectation 2.2: Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.
• Academic Expectation 2.3: Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.
• Academic Expectation 2.4: Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and non-living things and predict other characteristics that might be observed.
• Academic Expectation 2.5: Students understand that under certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move toward a balance.
• Academic Expectation 2.6: Students understand how living and non-living things change over time and the factors that influence the changes.

Core Content

Demonstrators

Rocks, Water, Air as Materials

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Earth Materials are solid rocks and soils, water, and the gases of the atmosphere. Minerals that make up rocks have properties of color, texture, and hardness. Soils have properties of color, texture, the capacity to retain water, and the ability to support plant growth. Water on the Earth and in the atmosphere can be a solid, liquid, or gas.

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Observe and compare soil composition taken from different locations such as near the school and along a creek bank.

Classify the composition of soil particles as living, nonliving, once living.

Explain and give examples of the function of soil (to provide nutrients and support for the growth and development of plants.)

Identify soil as a natural resource and give reasons why it should be conserved.

Observe and identify water in its solid, liquid, and gaseous state.

Classify Earth materials as a solids, liquids, or gases.

Use of Earth’s Resources

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Earth materials provide many of the resources humans use. The varied materials have different physical and chemical properties, which make them useful in different ways, for example, as building materials (e.g., stone, clay, marble), as sources of fuel (e.g., petroleum, natural gas) or growing the plants we use as food.

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Differentiate building materials as those used in their natural form (i.e. gravel, marble) or processed (i.e. cement, bricks.)

Science Process Vocabulary: classify, collect data, communicate, infer, measure, observe, organize data, predict

Science Content Vocabulary: building materials, color, crystal, dissolve, earth materials, energy, evaporation, flexible, function, gas, hardness, layer, matter, mineral, mixture, natural resource, object, opaque, particle, property, rigid, rock, rough, separate, smooth, softness, soil, soil composition, solid, texture, translucent, transparent, water

Primary Grade Two: Life Science

Standard 3: The student understands that there are living and once-living organisms and non-living objects on the Earth. Living things, or organisms, have needs, structures, and behaviors and differences that can be observed and described. Organisms grow and develop in a life cycle pattern. They affect and respond to the environment in which they live.

• Academic Expectation 2.1: Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real-life problems.
• Academic Expectation 2.2: Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.
• Academic Expectation 2.3: Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.
• Academic Expectation 2.4: Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and non-living things and predict other characteristics that might be observed.
• Academic Expectation 2.5: Students understand that under certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move toward a balance.
• Academic Expectation 2.6: Students understand how living and non-living things change over time and the factors that influence the changes.

Core Content

Demonstrators

Classifying Living Things

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Things in the environment are classified as living, nonliving, and once living. Living things differ from nonliving things. Organisms are classified into groups by using various characteristics (e.g., body coverings, body structures.)

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Differentiate between the properties or characteristics of plants and animals.

Classify animals according to how (born live or hatched) and where (on land or in water) they bear offspring.

Group animals according to their body coverings (e.g., fur, feathers, scales, skin).

Differentiate between animals with backbones (vertebrates) and without backbones (invertebrates).

Collect seeds and investigate to determine if they are alive or dead.

Basic Needs

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Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals need air, water, and food; plants need air, water, nutrients, and light. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs can be met.

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Vary the amount of nutrients, light, water, or other materials to discover the effect on the growth and development of plants.

Structures and Functions

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Each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct body structures for walking, holding, seeing, and talking.

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Compare the growth and development of plant structures (root, leaf, stem,) of different types of plants such as monocotyledons and dicotyledons.

Keep a journal of the observed changes of plants parts during development and growth.

Explain the growth pattern of plants. Include how seeds, roots, leaves, stems, and flowers develop in a sequence called a life cycle.

Describe the functions of roots, flowers, seeds, and leaves in a plant.

Differences in Life Cycles

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Plants and animals have life cycles that include the beginning of life, growth and development, reproduction, and death. The details of a life cycle are different for different organisms.

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Observe and record plants growth and development through one complete life cycle.

Sequence the changes in plant structures during the life cycle of a plant.

Observe and compare the egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages of several different insects.

Observe and describe the life cycles of different animals.

Record changes in organisms as they pass from one life cycle stage to another in metamorphosis.

Group animals by the life cycle stages. Recognize patterns with several organisms.

Offspring Resemble Their Parents

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Plants and animals closely resemble their parents at some time in their life cycle. Some characteristics (e.g., the color of flowers, the number of appendages) are passed to offspring. Other characteristics are learned from interactions with the environment, such as the ability to ride a bicycle, and these cannot be passed on to the next generation.

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Collect seeds and do investigations to determine if they are alive.

Experiment to see if seeds of one kind always produce the same kind.

Effect of Environmental Changes on Organisms

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The world has many different environments. Distinct environments support the life of different types of organisms. When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.

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Compare the habitats of different organisms.

Compare different types of habitats. Discuss how animals use or obtain food, shelter, water, and space

Set up experiments to see the effect on seeds with different environmental conditions (e.g., dark, overcrowding, etc.).

Place a board on a grassy area. Observe and record changes in plant and animal populations under the board over several weeks. Explain why the changes occurred.

Relationships Between Organisms and the Environment

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All organisms, including humans, cause changes in the environment where they live. Some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or to other organisms; other changes are beneficial (e.g., dams built by beavers benefit some aquatic organisms but are detrimental to others.)

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Set up experiments to see the how changes in environmental factors (e.g., dark, overcrowding, etc.) affects the growth and development of plants grown from seeds.

Science Process Vocabulary: classify, collect data, communicate, infer, measure, observe, organize data, predict

Science Content Vocabulary: abdomen, adult, air, animal, body, bug, bulb, chrysalis, cocoon, development, dicotyledon, egg, environment, flower, food, food chain, fruit, function, germination, growth, habitat, insect, larva, leaf, light, life cycle, living, maturation, metamorphosis, monocotyledon, nonliving, nutrient, object, offspring, once living, organism, parent, plant, population, pupa, root, seed, segment, shelter, stem, structure, survival, water